Fairytale Love
by xentrya
Summary: Believe it or not, Xena was quite a jealous girl...so how does she react when Ares is likely to have an affair?


**Fairytale love**

**(Xentrya)**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Xena: Warrior Princess. They belong to Studio USA and Renaissance Pictures. No profit has been made from this story, damn!**  
Rated: T**

_**Note**: The songs that I used for this fic are: **Rihanna-** Rehab/ **Adele**-Set fire to the rain/ **Evanescence-** You and My Immortal/ **Teena Marie-** Out on a Limb/ and **Eminem**-My Darling. _

_**None of them are mine obviously...**_

**I dedicate this story to my very best friend Adela, who's still dreaming about perfect love and complete happiness...Dreams can come true when you least expect it, or at least that's what they say... **

"Xena?...Xena?"

"Yeah?"came the hesitant reply of a miles away Warrior Princess.

"Have you even heard a word I've said?"

"Of course I heard you, Gabrielle" came the obviously anticipated protest that to her much dismay only seamed to determine the bard even more to prove a point.

"You did, huh?"

And that was it. Xena knew it. She didn't even have to watch her friend's skeptical expression. It was all in her tone. And **that** was the kind of tone that she was usually doing her best to avoid...she hated the outcome...

"Well...what was I talking about?" Gabrielle added, partially irritated by her companion's dismissive attitude.

"Shappo's ...last poem?" the dawdling answer finally left Xena's lips and though she had almost chocked on it, it was all that she had at the moment. In fact she was totally clueless about what in Hades Gabrielle had been ranting for the previous half an hour or so.

"Shappo?" a not very amused bard articulated, while carefully studying the Warrior Princess's expression to see if by any chance it hid any amount of well disguised sarcasm...It didn't... she was totally spaced out..." Xena...are you kidding me? That was hours ago!"

"You're just over reacting , Gabrielle...you've just mentioned it..."

"Well yeah, if that "**just "** of yours encompasses a two hours' period! Xena... Listen...I'm not blind, ok? I can see that something's bothering you..." the petite bard uttered, changing the tone to a more mild and opened one, true concern and compassion written all over her features.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing's bothering me!" Xena's standard answer took his rightful place in the conversation.

"That's so typical of you to say . I was actually expecting this..."

"Expect what?" the Warrior Princess spat, clearly not in the mood for the ongoing investigation that she was being submitted to.

"This...Look at you. You are so edgy as if I'm some nasty, hungry to kill warlord ready to chop your head off. You haven't been quite yourself ever since we returned from the Norse Lands...you've been awfully quiet and extremely moody...and you obviously have something on your mind. We could talk about it if you want to...That's what friends are for, remember? They help each other out..."

Don't be ridiculous Gabrielle, I'm ok! There's nothing wrong with me and I don't need any help... I'm perfectly...fine. Maybe just a little tired, that's all"

"Tired. Right. Is this about Ares ?" The point blank interrogation dropped like a bomb.

"Ares? What does that sick bastard have to do with it?" Xena exclaimed despite herself, her heart literally skipping a beat at the mere mention of the God's name.

"I don't know, you tell me" the bard shrugged "..Are you maybe...I don't know...disappointed that he didn't refuse the apple? That he's a God again?" came the slow motion question, as a broad, all-knowing smile escaped her lips, knowing that she had hit a nerve way before the Warrior Princess' brain had finished processing the information.

"WHAT? No! Why in old Zeus's name should I be disappointed? On the contrary. I'm rather relieved that I don't have to worry anymore about saving his ass each time he got in trouble , always wondering just how long it would take to get himself killed or something. And Aphrodite...she was obviously not built to be mortal. Living in a farm, surrounded by cows, pigs ,chickens and dirt, no perfect curls, no worshipers...that would have been the end of the universe for her, you know that."

"That's not what I meant, Xena." Gabrielle skillfully stated, slightly amused by the way in which her friend was beating around the bush, completely aware what her actual question really was.

"Well what did you mean then?"

Slowly licking her lips in satisfaction, the bard's tricky mind rapidly started to look for the right words to express what she wanted to say, in the most obvious and aggressive way possible of course, giving Xena no chance to skirt around the subject what so ever. She knew that her Warrior friend was a true artist when it came to that...just as she knew that it only took one single steely gaze coming from the cerulean irides to reduce her to silence within seconds if she chose so...but than again that would only reinforce her hypothesis...and Xena was wayyyyy to proud to let that happen..._"Gotcha!"_ she silently told herself, mentally praising her flawless intuition.

Seconds later, right when she was about to open her mouth and serve the Warrior Princess a proper answer, meant to squash her every single intention of lying to her ever again, there she was, in a shower of sparkling pink glitter and light, wearing her casual, transparent coral negligee that left but few intimate details to imagination: the bubbly Love Goddess in all her mighty glory...

"Heya chickas! Am I intruding or something? Wait! Don't answer that! The last time I asked Ar the same question he politely kicked my ass out of his temple. So...Watcha doin'?"

"Aphrodite!" the high pitched name left Xena's throat without a second thought, and the inflections of her voice indicated so much joy and relief that it even took the Goddess herself by surprise. "Am I glad to see you!"

"Well, hi there Warrior Babe!... Good to... see you too!" Dite replied apparently baffled by the unusually warm , enthusiastic welcome.

"Yeah, I bet!" Gabrielle continued dryly. "Real glad, huh?"

"Am I missing something here?" Aphrodite inquired curiously , her sharp gaze intensely focused on the visible tension painted on the two friends's faces.

"Nothing much, Dite, don't worry about it. Gabrielle is doing some off clock detective work, that's all" Xena rushed to answer, directing a malicious smirk towards the blond bard.

"She was thinking about Ares" Gabrielle spitted out , returning the smirk when she noticed Xena's eyes widening as if they were ready to pop out of her head.

"Don't you give me that look, Xena, you know I'm right" she added on her daily smart tone that only made the dark Warrior Princess wanna jump at her throat then and there and simply choke her.

"Yesss! " Aphrodite's extatic shriek soon followed, her eyes shining with excitement and vivid interest."I knew it! The moment Ar took a bite from that apple, I saw it in your eyes! You were scared! Scared of loosing him, of him drifting away from you, being a God and all, loosing the humanity that he had unwillingly gained while he was mortal. I thought it was all in my head but I was right all along! Sweet mother of Zeus! This is like the best news in ages! Totally bitchin!"

"Well, it seems that everyone knows something today, so let me tell you what I know: you two are...delirious...!" Xena grumbled staring at the two smiling women that were now analyzing her every reaction, every visible or invisible frown as if their lives depended on her every flinch.

"See? She's definitely got a problem." Gabrielle concluded , her index pointing towards the slightly panicked Warrior Princess. "I rest my case"

"Denial" the Love Goddess added sympathetically. "We all know how that works like".

"The only problem here is the colour of your hair...that's in fact the source of all problems..." Xena barked at the two blonds.

"This is like sooo cute, Gabs! She even sounds like Ar, !" Dite cunningly teased, clapping her hands.

"She does doesn't she?" the bard rhetorically asked completely astonished by the unbelievably logic breakthrough that had just intellectually enriched her, her mouth wide open while still considering the implications of the fact."I haven't actually thought about this one before. I've always felt that most of her lines sounded familiar...Ares' s style all the way!"

"It's official. You two are brain damaged! I think I'll go take a bath down at the lake. I strongly advise you change the subject before I return or the brain part will no longer be figuratively employed!" the Warrior Princess abruptly ended the conversation her low and dangerous voice instantly stopping the useless chit chat of the two blonds, literally giving Aphrodite the shivers.

Seconds later, both bard and Love Goddes were musingly contemplating a very self assured Warrior Princess wearing off into the scenery behind the thick shade of some trees not very far from them, still too consternated and engrossed in their own thoughts to be able to articulate anything.

And still, when the effect of the shock started to wear off, her voice but above a whisper , Gabrielle inquired, her gaze never leaving the tree line though:

"What do you think?"

"As stubborn as a mule..."Aphrodite replied with a loud sigh.

"That's Xena all right!"Gabrielle exclaimed rolling her eyes.

"I'll go talk to her. She' ll listen to me"

"Hmmmm...I don't think that's such a good idea Dite...Trust me...you don't want to see her pissed. Listen to the voice of experience here!"

"Oh seweetcheeks! No need to worry! The Warrior Babe and I go wayyyyyy back. Plus, I know how to handle her rage fits. Having the God of War as a brother certainly qualifies me for the job, wouldn't you think so?" " Aphrodite squealed with delight, already imagining her favorite number one couple finally together again.

"Dite...do you really believe that...she... that Ares...that Ares and she..." Gabrielle started babbling, unable to actually complete the sentence in any bearable way possible. It was like regardless of how she had uttered it , it still sounded completely wrong and ridiculous.

"Those two are madly in love Little One. And they deserve to be together...they went through a lot, you know...they just need to give each other a chance...or better said the Warrior Babe here should find it in her heart to forgive the Studmuffin's past mistakes and hear him out for once..."

Listening to the Love Goddess theory, despite her obvious confusion, Gabrielle couldn't restrain a childish chuckle.

"I'm sorry Dite, but I just can't help it! That's way too funny!"

"What's funny?"

"The way you talk about them as if they were some pair of crazy teenagers ready to run away from home just to be together...that's definitely one thing that I could never picture when it comes to the Warrior Princess and the God of War". I know there must heavy history there, even if Xena stubbornly refuses to speak about it, but still...

"Well, contrary to what they like to let the others believe, deep down in their hearts they actually are. If you knew them like I do, you would surely understand this better. But that's like a totally different story that I would tell you some other time. Right now I'm on a mission . Talk to you later pumpkin" Aphrodite stated, ready to snap her fingers and transport herself on the bank of the lake.

"Aphrodite?"

"Yeah?"

"Just...yell if you need any help..." Gabrielle hesitantly added, already anticipating what she thought to be the dramatic end of the Love Goddess's perfectly arranged platinum curls.

**XXX**

Back on the bank of the lake Xena had just finished dressing when, surrounded by a dazzling coral pink light, the Love Goddess made her appearance on a nearby log, a few preventive steps away from the Warrior Princess' grasp. Just in case...

"Well hi again baby swan! Managed to cool down your temper a little bit?" she inquired, a bright smile on her face, unsuccessfully trying in fact to hide the curious look that had made way in her sky blue eyes, a silent question that Xena had seen glittering into countless different pairs on more occasions that she cared to remember: _"Is she gonna draw the sword now or later?"_

"Not in the mood Aphrodite. So if you're here for a star interview, do yourself a favor and go check on some desperate lovesick worshipers, will you?"came the downright reply, an absolutely empty and dismissive expression accompanying it just for the sake of effect.

"Wrong answer, Warrior Babe. Not here for the interview. I already know everything I need to know, so..."

"So why are you here then?" Xena briskly cut her off in mid sentence, directing a harsher look this time into the blond Goddess's direction, her hands firmly planted on her hips.

"I figured you needed to talk to someone about what happened, and since ...uh... ...you and Gabs aren't really into the girl talk thing much, so...I just thought it would help...Plus, I kinda accidentally overheard your conversation...She nearly had you. I saved your ass back there...admit it"

"Accidentaly, huh? Aphrodite...I will repeat this one more time: nothing happened! Do you understand what I'm telling you here?" Xena slowly repeated the last part of the phrase, as if talking to a two year old.

"Yeah sure." Dite answered waving her hand in disbelief, catching in the meantime the Warrior Princess' indignant glare.

"Listen cutie, why don't you come sit here next to aunt Dite for a bit?" she finally asked patting the log where she was sitting on. "Come on now, I wont't bite. I promise. And no, I'm not suicidal OR anything similar." the blond Goddess added before Xena even got the chance to open her mouth again. "I just want us to talk, ok? It won't kill ya', I guarantee it."

Rolling her eyes dramatically, Xena hesitated for a moment or two but when she took one second glare towards the ditzy being sitting in front of her, decoding her insistent gaze she just started dragging her feet towards the half rotting log, very much aware of the fact that the safest way to get read of Aphrodite's endless nagging was to just pretend to listen to her and mostly act like you completely agreed to what ever she was usually ranting about.

"That's much better. It didn't hurt so far, did it?" came the encouraging reply that only made Xena roll her eyes once more, this time even more exasperated than before.

"Get to the point Dite."

"Sweetie...why in the world would you still deny what's going on between you and big bro'?"

"I can't actually tell Dite.. Should it be because there is nothing going on?" she

sarcastically answered back, cracking a smirk at what she thought to be the most obvious reason on the planet. `

"Or should it be because you are scared to death that if you allowed your heart to freely admit that it belongs to him, you'd just end up being hurt or something?" Dite came up with her own twisted interpretation of things.

"I'm not afraid of being hurt Dite. We all get hurt when we love."

"Then what is it Xe? Come on, talk to me..." Aphrodite whispered, gently touching her arm.

"It's just that...It's nothing Dite, forget it, It's nothing..." the Warrior Princess quickly changed her mind, annihilating any thought of opening up this subject with the soulless bastard's own sister.

And with that she just got up ready to leave. Aphrodite instantly followed.

"Xena please don't do this. Not with me...I've been by your side from the very beginning, remember? I have witnessed some very dramatic scenes between you two, but there were also some hot and tender moments...You can't just pretend they didn't happen, ok? ... Your first real swordfight, your first kiss, the first present he gave you, the fancy balls up in Olympus...I know you two. Better than anyone for that matter. I know **you. **So don't you dare tell me that there's nothing going on , Xena, cause I can read it in your eyes. It's as plain as daylight. You're hurting. Something's tearing you apart inside, I can sense it so distinctly... and no, you're not ok..."

"Aphrodite just stop it will you?" a completely overwhelmed Warrior Princess yelled at the taken aback Love Goddess. "Stop it! What's the point of all this? Ares will always be Ares. The same arrogant bastard that he has always been, always looking up for himself.

"Sweety, you don't truly believe that!"Aphrodite argued.

"Oh yes I do!"

"Xenaaa? How can you even say it?"The outraged Goddess broke out, literally scandalized by the Warrior Princess' attitude. "He gave up his immortality so that you could stay alive. He didn't raise a finger when you slaughtered his own brothers and sisters, his family, just so that you, Eve and Gabrielle could be safe, despite the fact that he could have blasted you into oblivion within a second. He might be in love with you, but don't underestimate his powers , Xena. He is the God of War, not just some cheesy warlord with some sixpenny magical powers. He can wipe entire cities from the map with one single energy bolt if he chooses it so. Even Zeus feared him like Tartarus..."

"I know who I'm dealing with Dite. I'm his Chosen remember? I' aware what he's capable of. I've seen him doing his worst, and not only once. That's why I'm saying that he's never going to change. He can't. Whether you like it or not, he's the embodiment of violence, death, extreme passions...He's just...wrong for me, he's everything I have to hate Dite...I can't be with him..."

"Weren't you the one that was always beating the drum on him being more than it meets the eye and that underneath his iron mask there was more than just bloody War? What was that all about?" the Goddess exasperatedly asked, as a flash of frustration crossed her eyes.

"Xena...he would gladly die for you if it were the case, without a second thought! Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"Yeah, as he would gladly screw any walking and breathing slut that crosses his path, or for that matter any empty headed priestess that would somehow match his "high" quality standards!" the Warrior Princess spitted out, unable to hold back that line.

"Warrior Babe, come on...! How many woman have you actually seen him with? And don't actually answer that. Cause I know what my brother feels for you. He'd never hurt you like that. Not in a million years." Aphrodite uttered on a very accusing tone, making Xena's eyes slowly turn towards the ground, aware that the blond Goddess's statement was at least partially true, and in spite of her own strong counterarguments, the mere articulation of his name made her suffer more than she was willing to admit...

And before she even regained her composure and strike back, strangely enough, Aphrodite started to complete her former monologue with the precise details that Xena knew she had strategically left out of the discussion.

"No, I won't deny that he might be fooling around here and there with some of those worthless whores he likes to call priestesses, but you can't actually expect him to just play the perfect eunuch number all by himself while you constantly reject him...I remember a time though when he'd turned them to ashes if they as much raised their eyes from the ground to look at him in your presence. So that should be the least of your concerns if you ask me..."

"He could as well bang his mother for what I care Dite" Xena involuntarily snapped, definitely irritated by the Love Goddess' pretty plausible and logical statement.

Ares had never been the embodiment of infinite commitment nor supreme faithfulness, that much of his rich sexual biography was true, but despite herself, as much as she hated to admit it, the idea of some other woman actually touching him like she used to do made her to unquestionably wanna kill someone. Anyone.

Noticing the fake indifference in her shaking voice , Aphrodite couldn't suppress a bemused giggle as she instantly recalled a stunningly similar discussion they had had years ago, just months after Xena had become her brother's Chosen when, after returning from a bloody battle with one of the Western cities of Greece, the War God genuinely thought he was going to have to clean his temples all by himself for the next several decades when, as she was about to enter one of them, a very not in the mood for anything Xena, heard his priestesses intentionally praising the handsome God's sexual skills as they saw her approaching, mischievously bragging about their Lord's preference for one or the other of them, while glaring her mockingly and whispering some pretty nasty stuff behind her back.

Another smile appeared on the Love Goddess's face as her brother's unexpected reaction came to her mind.

As he was in the altar room contemplating some offerings and absent mindedly listening to the boring petitions of some pesky warlords, he instantly materialized outside the temple the minute he heard the girls desperately calling his name, asking for help.

"_Xena? What in Zeus' name are you doing?" he yelled, grabbing her arm, while taking one more glance towards the four soaked in blood bodies laying on the marble stairs . "These are my priestesses!"_

"_My Lord!" came the terrified shriek of the three other girls that were obviously about to find their bitter end at the point of the Warrior Princess' s sword."She just killed them! In cold blood! You have to punish her! "_

"_What's this all about Xena?" Ares inquired still boiling mad because of the useless slaughter that had taken place but seconds before, without any apparent reason what so ever._

"_Oh, nothing much. Just checking if my sword was still sharp enough." Xena answered a totally malefic glitter in her eyes. "And I still can't tell...I might need some more exercise to find out" she added, directing a death full glare towards the remaining priestesses. _

_And when Ares' frosty look refused to leave her eyes, she casually continued:_

"_For some weird, unknown reason, these air headed bimbos, somehow got the idea that they mean more to you than I do."_

_And that's when the leather clad God's expression transformed completely, releasing her arm and taking two steps back from her, a wide, bemused ear to ear grin stretching from one ear to the other. _

"_Oh! Jealousy...I must say, I'm flattered, Princess...Please, knock yourself out then." he curtly invited, while carefully examining her every reaction._

"_Flattered, huh? Don't mistake pride for jealousy, Ares." came the sharp but effective reply as the neck of another one of the girls fell to the ground. "Scram!" she coldly addressed to the other two priestesses shaking like leaves at her feet._

That night, when Aphrodite dropped by and Xena told her all about it, still mad at Ares for having had the nerve to allow those damned domestics talk like that in her presence she had used a very similar reply to the one that she currently used and the attitude...well the Love Goddess gladly found out that it hadn't changed a bit.

"Do we need to have this conversation all over again, Warrior Babe?' Aphrodite sheepishly asked, knowing that Xena's memories about that after noon were still fresh and active. " Plus, Hera's dead...he couldn't screw her even if he wanted too..."

"Would you stop defending him already? It's not like he's on trial for his life or something! "

"You are his life. So yes he is" Dite pointed out melodramatically.

"Oh. You break my heart. We could never have a normal relationship Dite. He'd just get bored and move on faster than you can say" hair appointment" the raven beauty spitted out, almost slapping herself after having realized her confession.

"Sweety!" Aphrodite's unbelievably loud exclamation. "So that's what's troubling you! You're afraid that once that he has everything he'd ever wanted he'd loose interset and leave..."

And when no answer came, and Xena obviously became considerably more agitated than she was but seconds before, the bubbly Goddess just kept on talking, knowing that she was going to have to give her best if she wanted her number one couple together again.

"I hate to brake it to you Warrior Babe, but you couldn't be more wrong about this! You should have seen him when he thought you were dead...Xena...I'm telling you, he was absolutely devastated. That day he genuinely wished he were dead too. I haven't seen him like that in all my immortal existence, and I'm not overreacting here. He actually mourned you, and the mere mention of your name could made him go ballistic and all grumpy for like months...That's not the reaction of a man who would get bored if he had you by his side...Plus...he wanted a family with you, doesn't that count? No, he didn't have the slightest clue about how to tell you that and he did it in the worst way possible, using those incredibly primitive and stupid "just serve yourself" techniques of his, but, don't doubt his love ok? Cause he is crazy 'bout you chicka...Don't...don't say anything" she mildly added when Xena was but seconds away from launching yet another muffled protest regarding Aphrodite's life and relationship theories. " Just think about it, will you? I really think you should talk to him about this...You'll be in for the surprise of your life, I promise. Just go with me on this one...ok? "the Goddess pleaded before finally dematerializing with the usual pink special effects and everything, leaving a stunned Warrior Princess behind.

**XXX**

Hours later, as the sun was getting ready to set, the battling bard and the Warrior Princess were on the road again, and from the outside, the scene looked preety much like this: on the left part of the road, balancing her staff back and forth from time to time, an overly tempted Gabrielle to find out what Xena had been talking about with the Love Goddess , was effortlessly blabbering about everything in the known universe just to avoid bringing up the incentive subject that she knew she had to put by for the next few days if she cared for her own well being.

Next to her, but rather closer to Argo than to her talkative friend, was Xena, firmly holding on to the horse's bridle as if it had been a life ring or some sort, eyes slightly narrowed as if the entire human history was lively replaying before them, her entire body tense and craving for a good battle to release the pressure pulsating in her temples like hammers, her restless mind obviously still quibbling on what Aphrodite had said to her during their little chit chat.

As ditzy and spaced out as she usually was, the platinum blond Goddess had somehow managed to get to her...she didn't like it...

And just as she had imperceptibly started to shake her head in a decisive attempt to drift the maddening thoughts away from her rattled brain, Gabrielle's high pitched exclamation suddenly acted like a bell, rapidly waking her up from her seemingly pointless reverie.

"...and when I got home, there she was, just sitting there in front of the fire waiting for me as if nothing had happened! Can you believe it?"

"I never would have guessed it..." came the gruff, automatic reply that literally made Gabrielle bit her tongue hard in order to prevent the life threatening repetition of the entire afternoon conversation all over again.

"So...where do you want us to set camp?" she asked in return, using the minimum of words possible.

"If I remember correctly, there's a clearing not far from here. And there should also be a spring. "

"Good. I could really use some water. And I bet Argo is dehydrated too, she hadn't drank any all day long."

"Yeah."

"Xena...?" Gabrielle uttered reluctantly while attentively scrutinizing a point in the distance, not very far away from them , and the way she saw it, it appeared to be a bright flickering light. "What is that? Is it an inn or something?"

Her piercing gaze analyzing the source of the light, Xena simply answered seconds later, involuntarily tightening the grip on Argo's bridle:

"No. It's a temple."

"A temple? Whom does it belong to?"

"I...don't know" the Warrior Princess lied, silently cursing the uninspired decision of having taken that shortcut instead of the main road they had started on in the first place.

"Uh...maybe...we should go over there. Ask for shelter for the night?"the bard inquired.

"I don't think that's such a good idea since we don't know who the patron God is." Xena replied, changing the subject before Gabrielle had the chance to protest in any way." We should gather some wood. Start a fire."

"Ok...I could make us some soup if you want to."

"Sure thing. That would be great. I love your soup." Xena added, smiling widely.

"Well you generally love all foods that are not prepared by your two lefty hands, so stop blandishing, will you?"

A good laugh and three or four similar lines were enough to lighten up the mood, making Xena momentarily forget all about her "emotional problems" as Aphrodite professionally liked to call them.

The blissful presence of that blessed peace of mind didn't last much though, cause, as soon as Gabrielle drifted to sleep, fragments of the Goddess of Love's lines started to invade Xena's tired mind all over again, tormenting her worse than Tartarus.

"_Maybe Dite is right...maybe he has changed and I just might have been a little to harsh on him the last time we met...He did do even the impossible for me lately...maybe it's just me...maybe I should try to conquer my fears and give this a real chance for once..." _Xena couldn't help thinking while gazing at the starry sky above her. _"And still... too many "maybes" in the same paragraph are always a bad sign..." _she continued waving a hand through her hair.

Nevertheless, after another half an hour of tossing and turning, she quietly got up from her bedroll, took her chackram and, in the most perfect and undisturbed silence, careful not to wake up the snoring bard, she headed for what she knew to be one of Ares' most lavishing temples in Greece.

Despite the pros and the cons, they needed to have a long, honest talk about this.

"_Maybe it would at least take my mind off it ..." _she kept on telling herself while getting closer and closer to the impressive white marble construction. _"...there's that "maybe" again" _she irritatedly added, hating even the mental sound of it. _"This is wrong..." _

And yet, she kept on walking, ignoring her instincts, determined to put behind her any doubt or concern she might have had related to the matter. He did love her, that much she knew, and she was undeniably convinced about the veracity of his feelings.

"I do love him too, I can't keep hiding behind a finger forever..." she murmured lowly as if trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing "And Gabrielle always says that by only talking, one can solve half of his problems..." she encouragingly added taking a deep breath, closing those beryl moons of hers for a second, in one last attempt to reduce the beatings of her drumming heart.

"...Here goes nothing..." came one last line as she finally started climbing up the stairs, heading for the main entrance.

**XXX**

As she unperceivably stepped into the main temple hall, heading towards the throne room where she knew Ares might have been, Xena couldn't fail to perceive the fading glim of the torches mysteriously lightening up the dark, craftily ornated room.

If there was something that she had always admired about the God of War was that singular taste of elegant subtility he had when it came to decorating.

The refinedly executed frescos embellishing the black and the dark red pattern of the walls, depicting battle scenes and remarkable historical moments, along with the towering, soft velvet curtains separating the key parts of the shrine and the rare goblets and weapons placed here and there in what it strangely seamed to be a well thought disarray, would have impressed even the most trained art critic, and let's just say that one wouldn't have expected a similar view when he entered into such a feared God's temple.

The classical image of skeletons and broken, beheaded bodies described in people's exaggerated tales about the Lord of Death and Destruction were more likely to correspond to the collective belief about the Patron of War's"unnaturally", artistical inclinations, than the image of a rather picky deity that seamed to know more about art and beauty than Apollo himself.

Advancing through the long, cold corridor, Xena found herself rolling her eyes in despair without actually succeeding to suppress a rather proud smile that unwillingly made her lips curve slightly the minute she noticed a life-size statue of herself, ridding Argo into what should have been a fierce battle of some kind.

And just when she was about to walk into the throne room and call for Ares, ready to serve him a proper line regarding the presence of her stone look alike in his lair, her entire body froze as she suddenly overheard voices from the other side of the curtain.

One was obviously Ares's, she had sensed his presence the moment her feet had touched the shrine's stairs, and the other one was that of a young woman's.

As bits of conversation started to reach her ears, she silently wished she had stayed in camp, wondering if the God had sensed her presence too or not, if she could still make herself inconspicuous without actually making a fool of herself.

"...please by all means..." Ares's broken line could be heard, his voice bearing that playful tone he usually used each time they teased each other.

Just that this time she wasn't part of the game...

Totally surprising herself, the Warrior Princess found out that, despite herself, she hated that particular thought, a savage wave of mixed jealousy and pain raising from her heart to her now clouded mind the moment she heard the woman's reply.

"Well arent't I the lucky one?"

"Oh trust me, you don't even realize it yet." Ares rushed to answer, and pulling gently a part of the thick curtain aside, Xena saw him handing a goblet of wine to what was one of the most beautiful woman she had seen in her life..

Nut- brown was her hair, with crimson tresses flowing like a river down her back, sea green piercing eyes and a face meant to rival at any time Aphrodite's stunning features.

Whatever her name was, it really didn't matter any more, as her demeanor certainly indicated some kind of immortal origin, maybe a Goddess or at least an immortal of some kind.

Self confidence was written all over her perfect body, from head to toe, and as she attentively observed her, Xena's eyes remained glued for a few moments on the particular aspect of her lightly bronzed skin which had a distinct glow in the flickering light of the torches, appearing to radiate as if gold dust had been spread all over it.

The stranger wore a long, one sleeve dark blue silk dress, garnished with intricate geometrical figures and floral patterns that Xena recognized to be one of those Indian traditional sarees that she and Gabrielle had been admiring like crazy during their last Oriental travels and she just couldn't avoid holding her breath as the woman's slender fingers touched Ares' broad chest while she responded to his former comment.

"I do like your sense of humour, I swear I do"

"I told you you would. What else do you like?" he inquired on the most lascivious of tones, a devilish smile on his lips, making Xena's blood literally boil inside her veins worse than lava.

"I'd rather let you discover those details. It makes it all more interesting." she murmured fixing him with her implying gaze.

"I can take that..."

"You've probably used this line with more woman than you care to remember..." she couldn't help chuckling softly, as she tilted her head almost imperceptibly to one side, her hypnotizingly captivating eyes mirroring a vivid interest for the man standing in front of her.

"Now I'm really hurt." Ares mischievously stated, his left hand covering his heart area as if afraid to have a heart attack during the following second. " Why is it that women always assume that?" he continued, defending his apparently flawless, honorable character.

"Oh I think I might be able to help you solve that riddle", Xena's steely voice sliced the air as she entered the room , leaving an obviously flabbergasted War God stare at her as if seeing the ribs of Chronos into his mongrel brother's hand directed to his neck.

"Xena." He finallty managed to utter. "Wha...What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Well...let's just say I assumed that being your precious Chosen and all, I didn't need to have a particular reason to wonder around through your temples at night.

It was supposed to be a special privilege of some sort. Should I have **asked** for your **permission?**" she deliberately stressed the last word, putting in it as much irony as she could find inside her hardly controllable, infuriated self.

"You don't. It is. Definitely not" the almost monosyllabic phrases left the confused leather clad God's mouth, his heart racing inside his chest faster than a Spartan chariot.

"Good. ...Aren't you going to introduce me to your guest?" she cunningly asked shifting her burning gaze to the woman standing inches away from her God.

"Of course...This is Lakshmi, the Indian Goddess of Beauty, Fortune and...Fertility."

Ares said, almost chocking on the Fertility part. "Daughter of Durga, the Hindu Goddess of divine enrgy." he continued his introductions on the most strangled of modulations.

"_Go figure..."_ Xena mentally grumbled, gnashing her teeth while Ares started to introduce her to the member of the Indian Pantheon standing beside him.

"And Lakshmi, this is Xena..."

"The Warrior Princess" the Goddess filled in the last part of the title, her eyes scanning the raven beauty that had had the lack of courtesy to interrupt their elating conversation.

"I've heard a lot about you" the Goddess added sarcastically, never breaking her gaze, studying her interlocutor's every reaction.

"Who hasn't ?" Ares intervened, very much aware of his Chosen's ill temper.

"What can I say? I'm a legend" Xena concluded barely restraining herself from jumping either at Ares's throat or at the sniffy woman's long hair.

"They say you're a woman of many skills..." Lakshmi kept on stinging, wondering just how much it would take for the Warrior Princess to snap, guessing out of her two companion's reactions that there was heavy history between them. She was definitely enjoying herself while doing it, though.

"Oh, indeed she is. The best I've ever trained. A masterpiece" Ares proudly stated, his eyes beaming with adoration.

"Stop bragging Ares, it's bad for your overall image" Xena casually stated while pouring herself a glass of wine form the altar table.

" _**" Ares?"**_ the Indian Goddess gasped in shock. "You allow her to call you by your name?"

"Yeah, well, Xena's something else. Rules are useless when it comes to her" the War God answered, ogling the carefree Warrior Princess that was now casually leaning against one of the marble columns of the room with unbelievable detachedness in her cerulean eyes.

"Well, What can I say? You thought me well" Xena responded , maintaining that distant, unusual calmness in her voice that the God smartly decoded as "endless trouble to come, straight ahead."

He knew better though. Her heart was hammering against her chest like it was about to explode at any moment, and she was as tense as she was before an important life or death confrontation with some well trained enemy. He could sense it in their bond despite the fact that she had succeeded in blocking most of her feelings when she had entered the room.

"_How long had she been standing there?" _the War God silently asked himself, still shocked about not having sensed her in the first place when she approached the temple. _Gods damn it, this is so not good." _ he added analyzing his Princess' slow motion moves.

"_...Why is she here at this late hour, anyway?" _he couldn't help wondering knowing that usually Xena would stay as far away of his temples as she could.

"Should I understand that you two are...?"Lakshmi restarted, breaking the endless stream of thoughts invading Ares's busy mind.

"Strictly professional"

"It's complicated" both Chosen and War god replied simultaneously, eyeing each other uncomfortably the following second, as they both realized the other's response.

"Complicated...? Perfect" Lakshmi uttered on a low, seductive tone, biting her lower lip as she closed the distance between her and Ares , slowly tracing the contour of his hard to resist lips with her finger. "My favorite type of relationship. "

"Do tell..." the War God whispered, completely charmed by the Goddess's surreal greenish eyes.

"Actually, I'd rather show..." she teased, her hot breath but inches from his lips.

"You're nasty..." Ares underlined, his eyes unwillingly shifting towards her arousing breasts ,the shape of which could be clearly perceived through the fine silk saree she was wearing and which was closely fitting her every irresistible curve.

"And you're curious..."

"Can you blame me?"

"Not really..." she stated her chest now rising and falling irregularly with anticipation under the hastiness of ragged breaths. "So...I believe that you mentioned something about...showing me the famous Halls of War?"

"I did, Didn't I?" Ares playfully replied as he took the goblet out of her hand and went to the altar table to place them both there.

"You most definitely did" Lakshmi continued, drinking in the God's sexy image as he turned around to face her again.

"I must warn you though...that's a dangerous place for you to be in..." he implyingly suggested, allowing his fingers to delicately slide along the hem line of the Goddess' sari.

"You surely make it sound pretty exciting..."

"You'll tell me all about it later, I'm sure..." he said laughing , while shifting an arm around her waist, ready to vanish, when he suddenly recalled that Xena was still standing in the room...and if hearts could indeed bleed inside someone's chest, Xena's would have stained the marble floor beneath her feet, minutes ago.

She kept on wearing that indifference mask that her patron God had taught her to use years ago though , faking intangibility and dispassion until the very end if she had to.

"_Damn you Aphrodite."_ she kept repeating inside her mind while fighting back the tears from flowing down her cheeks._ "I should have known better. I never learn"_

_**Baby, baby  
When we first met  
I never felt something so strong  
You were like my lover  
And my best friend  
All wrapped into one  
With a ribbon on it  
And all of a sudden  
When you left  
I didn't know how to follow  
It's like a shot  
That spun me around  
And now my heart left  
**_

_**I feel so empty and hollow****  
****And I'll never give myself to another****  
****The way I gave it to you****  
****Don't even recognize****  
****The ways you hit me****  
****Do you?****  
****It's gonna take a miracle to bring me back****  
****And you're the one to blame**  
_

As he took one quick look around he spotted her still sipping on the glass of wine.

"Well, I guess I should leave you entertain your guest then, Ares" she simply stated, succesfully succeeding to control her shaky voice to the point where it sounded as normal as it would have under any other circumstance.

"You could join us...couldn't she?" the Indian Goddess added, implyingly rasing an eyebrow , expecting the War God's aproval.

"She definitely could" Ares answered, his tense jaw giving away the ultimate disaster that he knew he was going to face once that all that was over and him and Xena would get together again.

"No thanks. Been there, done that. I'll leave you too enjoy **"the tour"** she answered, heading towards the exit. "Knock yourself out" she added, fixing Ares with such an icy stare that his heart skipped a beat or two.

"Suit yourself. It would have been fun though." Lakshmi replied grinning, refocusing on the War God's now agitated gaze, waking him up from the trance he was apparently in. "Shall we?"

"Of course" came the automatic response, an empty, formal smile on his lips, as a blue shower of light and sparks enfolded them both, transporting them to Sparta in less than a blink.

**XXX**

_**I let it fall, my heart  
And as it fell, you rose to claim it  
It was dark and I was over  
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me  
My hands, they were strong, but my knees were far too weak  
To stand in your arms without falling to your feet**_

_**But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew**_  
_**All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true**_  
_**And the games you'd play, you would always win, always win**_

_**But I set fire to the rain  
Watched it pour as I touched your face  
Well, it burned while I cried  
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name**_

On her way back to camp, unbearably hot tears streaming now down her obviously pained face like a drainless source of fresh water, Xena found herself no longer able to block that agonizing sensation that every inch of her flesh was being gradually ripped by invisible claws that were grazing the surface of her bones in the process, slashing the muscles of her legs to the extent that it was impossible for her to walk any more, her feet refusing to take one more step as soon as she reached the border of the gloomy forest laying ahead of her.

As she crumbled in a puddle at the base of a tree, literally biting her tongue in order to force the sobs from leaving her throat, her both hands covered her chest , there where the ache was striking the most, in the place where her heart had once stood , as if afraid that the shattered pieces organ might have found a way out of her breast through her skin and fall down and disperse in the dry grass covering the ground, making it impossible for her to find them all again.

"_And to think that the soulless bastard actually had the nerve to tell me he loved me! That he was willing to change for me..." _the thought started spinning round and round her head, as fresh images from her recent past with the War God began replaying before her inflamed eyes.

"_To think that I actually considered giving him a chance. Giving us a chance...I must have hit my head against a rock last night while sleeping!"_

Closing her eyes for a second in order to avoid the memories from flooding her mind, Xena suddenly felt the crushing need to inhale a deep, deep breath, as venomous fragments from the previous dialogue between Ares and the beautiful Lakshmi started echoing inside each corner of her brain, just like the deafening lines of a chaotic play in a way too small proscenium would, and it genuinely took all of her remaining will to restrain a piercing scream, one let out from the top of her lungs, one that would have contained all the bottled up frustration, anger and disappointment altogether, very much aware of the fact that the moment following this kind of overwhelming liberation, Ares would have been present by her side, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her broken like that.

She wasn't planning to give him that pleasure. Tartarus would have frozen first.

...

Hours later, safely enfolded in her blanket, at the other side of the fire, far enough for Gabrielle to sense her, Xena's cheeks were still soaked with tears, and as much as she tried to get it all out of her mind and get some sleep, she found out that she couldn't and that Morpheus's land was going to be but a faraway willable illusion for her during those remaining hours, till dawn.

...The night had slightly started to call away her darkness and an achromatized trace of light began to show to the horizon, when her numb conscience finally began to gradually loose itself into the realm of dreams and wonders when, right out of nowhere, the Warrior Princess's exhausted body detected a foreign presence, veiled at first but increasing in terms of energy with every passing second, as it got closer and closer to her bedroll.

...Ares...

"_What does the two faced Cyclops want now?" _she couldn't help wondering feeling his nearness.

Aware that the God could sense everything from heartbeat to aura and back when it came to her, Xena did her best to relax, not wanting to be forced to face him. She was certainly not in the mood. And then there was Gabrielle...too much explaining to do.

Her breath even, and her every muscle loosen up as if she were caught up into the toils of one of the most beautiful, chimerical of dreams, her lips slightly parted, Xena could now feel him standing but inches away from her.

Slowly, very slowly in what seamed to last like a thousand years or so, Ares bent over her, and she could actually sense his burning gaze upon her skin, fixed on her still wet cheeks, silently cursing herself for having stupidly forgotten to wipe those tears away.

As if silently complying to her desire, the War God's firm but gentle hand, delicately reached her face, and with the most lightest of touches she could have ever imagined, he brushed off the salty liquid , lingering a little on her jaw line.

_**When we're together, I feel perfect  
When I'm pulled away from you, I fall apart  
All you say is sacred to me  
Your eyes are so blue  
I can't look away  
As we lay in the stillness  
You whisper to me...**_

Miles away but at the same time very much present, Xena was literally fighting with her own body, desperately trying to suppress the shivers that his caress had risen inside her, when his fingertips moved further away onto the other side of her visage.

She hated him. She hated him now more than she had ever had, with every fiber of her being, and she would have gladly sunk the Dagger of Helios straight inside that lying, treacherous heart of his if she could, without a second thought.

She hated him. And at the same time there wasn't one damn cell in her suffering form that wouldn't moan and gasp at the contact of his skin. Tartarus, his mere presence would infailibly send electric shivers up and her spine without him doing anything else but being in the same space as she was. And worse, she could sense his emotions, she could read him like an open book...His voice...he could talk to her without even having to utter one word.

_**Promise you'll stay with me...  
Oh...no,you don't have to ask me  
You know you're all that I live for,  
You know I'd die just to hold you,  
Stay with you.  
Somehow I'll show you  
That you are my night sky.  
I've always been right behind you  
Now I'll always be right beside you. **_

Bastrad! She despised him. She was repulsed by his arrogance, by his manipulating character, by his godly stamina; she would have given the world for him to just disappear out of her world then and there , taking away from her all the memories they shared of their life together, and yet, the very air he was exhaling against her lips that very moment was enough to raise her from the dead if needed, provided it meant feeling his warm breath for a few seconds longer burning hot against her lips.

It was insane and she knew it. And that's exactly what was eating her inside out the most: the frustration of not being able to erase from her soul that sick love/ obsession thing she had for him, and that she knew he shared at an even more intense level that she did.

But then again, his love could hurt more than a heavy, well sharpened Gaelic spear plunged right into the heart. It had done more harm across the years than all the injuries that she had received on the battlefield altogether. And unlike the physical ones, most of the emotional wounds that he had cruelly mutilated her soul with, were still bleeding, and here and there, where the bleeding had finally stopped, there were deep, ugly scars that would never heal...

_**I'm so tired of being here  
Suppressed by all my childish fears  
And if you have to leave  
I wish that you would just leave  
'Cause your presence still lingers here  
And it won't leave me alone**_

_**These wounds won't seem to heal**_  
_**This pain is just too real**_  
_**There's just too much that time cannot erase...**_

Unknown to herself, and sensing it a little to late, an unchecked, crystal tear drop found it's way down to her cheek again, meeting it's end on the God's fingertips, and while she was quietly and slightly impatiently waiting for him to erase that faint trace too, she felt another one land on the surface of her porcelain visage, just as warm, just as full of sorrow as the previous one...but this time it wasn't hers...

Seconds later, Ares's soft lips were pressing tenderly against her own, and it took the Warrior Princess a surreal effort not to burst into tears as he murmured faintly, his forehead resting casually against her own:

"I love you Princess.. I swear it on Styx. I love you more than life. I love you"

_**When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have  
All of me **_

...Useless to say that hear heart nearly exploded under the powerful impact of all those contradictory feelings which had gathered inside it during the past few hours.

**XXX**

And that was about it...as categorical as Xena had previously been about not opening her eyes and just let the God make his bloody oration and leave, without as much as bothering to acknowledge his presence in any way, not even if the world ended in the meantime, hearing him utter those words, she just couldn't help herself any more.

She would have torn him to pieces limb from limb and thrown his remains on top of the camp fire just to feel the pleasure of spitting on his ashes hours later.

Consequently, when the last "I love" melodiously left his mouth, much to Ares's surprise, a low, specific kick right to his crotch made him completely crumble down beside her, his eyes popping out of his head under the unbearable impact with the outraged Warrior Princess' knee.

"Love this!" she barked on the lowest possible tone, careful not to wake up the still sleeping Gabrielle, glaring daggers at the afflicted War God gasping for air, shades of utter disgust and satisfaction written all over her face.

"You demented son of a bachae! You still have the nerve to show your rat face around here **and **tell me you love me, after tonight's party number with that so called "guest of honour" of yours? Could you be even more cynic than this? To think that I actually gave you back your godhood. By Hades, I should have killed you when I had the chance!" she snarled at him furiously.

"It's not what you think!" Ares interjected, barely managing to growl while vainly trying to get up from the ground, his left hand still involuntarily glued to his pants, silently wishing he had kept his eyes open to her reactions. With Xena one could never expect a happy outcome most of the times, after all. "

"Not what I think? I'm not brain damaged Ares! And I've certainly not grown blind since the last time we met, ok? "

"Well what did you see, Xena? Huh? " the War God protested, infuriated by his Princess' accusations.

"Enough to put the pieces together!"

"What pieces? Nothing happened! She was there for the sole purpose of building an alliance between the Greek and the Indian Pantheon! With most of the major Gods gone, we'd make an easy target you know...That's all!"

"Yeah. And as I recall it, that usually happens with some nice welcome tour and a firm handshake, right?"

"As a matter of fact, that pretty much sums it up..., yeah!"he said eying her suspiciously.

"Right. And I'm the Queen of the Gods! "

"...You could be. Just need to say the word! We could skip the ceremony. I know you hate being in the spotlight, so...we could stick to the "I do"part. Nothing fancy...The Halls of war...Black scheme...You know...The regular. That is unless you've pictured it differently, of course..." Ares replied with a shiver, as the hair on the back of his nape rose at the mere image of his Xena ruling Olympus and the known world by his side as his consort.

"You sick bastard!" came the very common line that the God had always loved hearing her use, especially when it was uttered with so much rage and frustration in her voice."I'd rather marry Joxer!"

"You're just overreacting... Let's face it...you can hardly bare to inhale the same air as that blabbering looser does" he called off her bluff, cracking a smile. "Plus...I'm not so bad. And, marrying that clown would make you a widow in less than a week. If you don't kill him I will. So what's the point to it all, right? I mean why bother?"

"Will you just leave already?" the Warrior Princess snapped, pushing him brutally aside."I'm really not in the mood, Ares"

"Well what's wrong? And don't tell me that a casual rough-and thumble with some Indian hot chick got you so worked up , Princess, cause it doesn't suite you."

"So you did sleep with her."

"I didn't say that." he replied casually, licking his lips. "And if I did, what's it to you, after all? Maybe it was for the greater good , Xena. You out of all people should understand this!" Ares started playing around as soon as he noticed the flames of jealousy and spite burning inside his Princess's troubled eyes, curious to see if she would take the bait, totally into the idea of teasing her with the possibility for once.

" "Sacrificing yourself" to fuck her for the glorious sake of peace...How appropriate ...I'd say you should be given a medal!"

"Well...for once I might not have been selfish, right? I 'd personally call that... **progress**...don't you think so?"

And just when she was inches from completely loosing her temper and violently give the start to a full scale attack against the suicidal Son of Zeus , his throat being the main target, Xena's foggy mind suddenly succeeded to perceive the bigger picture, as if an invisible flashlight had secretively began to reveal his intentions to her.

Totally confused and lacking the necessary patience to keep on facing the stingy God, the obviously disturbed and physically tired Warrior Prinnces, just rolled her eyes in exasperation, and turned around to leave, when she felt Ares' hand gripping her wrist forcefully and pulling her abruptly towards him.

"Princess, come on! I was just playing with ya', ok?. We were just talking for Zeus's sake.! Some innocent flirting and a good laughter afterwards! Nothing happened, I promise!"

"Zeus is dead, Ares, and I couldn't care less about your pathetic love life! And I do swear that if you don't take a hike in the next couple of seconds you would be keeping him company in the pits of Tartarus or wherever dead Gods go!" Xena threatened angrily, drawing her sword out of her scabbard and pointing it to the God's broad chest.

"What's going on?" a sleepy Gabrielle mumbled barely holding her eyes open as she sat up in her bedroll, still dizzy and tired, obviously lacking another two or three hours of her beauty sleep routine. "Are we under attack or something?"

"Go back to sleep Gabrielle!"

"Shut up and start snoring Blondie!" were the instant replies that actually made the bard completely open her eyes, both of her eyes this time, in the unique purpose of making a short scan of the premises.

"Oh...this kind of attack" she kept on muttering, rolling over as lazily a wagon wheel on a muddy road, as she noticed her friend's sword directed bullseye to Ares' well defined pecks ."Just keep it low, will ya'?" she kept muttering from underneath the blanket now concealing the top of her head.

"I still don't get what you see in her" Ares just had to let it out with a loud sigh, glaring scornfully towards the grey covers from under which some of the bard's blond tresses subtly escaped, looking just like Medusa's ugly snake wig. "She's...hideous and ... heinous ...and...flaxen...!"

Then as he suddenly recalled what she had just said he added:

"And just what was that about you not caring about my love life? Look at you! The mere idea of me being with another woman can make you blow up in a million pieces and you still have the nerve to..."

"You do enjoy deluding yourself, don't you?" she broke him off in mid sentence, knowing very well where he was heading to..."Anyway...would it be sooooo much to ask you to just keep on ranting up in Olympus and let me get some decent sleep? I could use some, you know!"

"You would, huh? Why's that Princess? Didn't get enough by now? Wild thoughts keeping you awake at nights?" he inquired, implyingly raisng an eyebrow.

Gnashing her teeth, Xena briefly considered flattening him and his haranguing tongue with a surprise left hook straight to the jaw, but still, the idea of sticking the heavy sword from her hand all the way through his immortal heart sounded so much more tempting, that she couldn't help wondering for a second or two exactly which technique would have been more appealing and more rewarding from the visual point of view.

She knew better though...she was by far lacking the necessary focus for a proper fight. Ares would have mopped the floor with her before she got the chance to strike him twice.

...Not good...

Ignoring him still seamed the best policy.

So, breaking her wrist free from his grasp with an unexpected jolt, she just turned around to leave again, aware that turning her back on him would only piss him off big time, just as he had previously done to her during their pointless, immature conversation. An incomplete victory, that was for sure, but it was better than nothing.

Meaningless to say that she was right and that Ares didn't prove to be the biggest fan of such type of nighty night take offs...

Using his godly powers quickly pan out to be the best solution he could think of, when, trying to grab her arm again to keep her put, still feeling like they were far from sorting things out, she just flipped over him, ready to slash his throat in the process, her sharp blade missing him but less than one inch.

One short but effective blue fiery bolt and the Warrior Princess' sword landed on the other side of Gabrielle's bedroll though, while another one, lighter this time, sent Xena to the ground.

It was quite a blow she took, that was visible enough, and she knew the moment she landed that the God's patience had been wearing thin during their previous conversation, so there was no way in Tartarus he was going to grant her the time needed to come around.

She was right of course cause while still shaking her head in a futile attempt to regain senses faster, Ares had already grasped her shoulders, squeezing them so hard that she could already predict the purple blemishes that were bound to show up on her smooth, satin skin as soon as he released her.

"Don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" he thundered, pulling her roughly towards him again with such violent ease that it seamed he wanted to incorporate her form into his own aching body, humming with tension with every breath, forcing her to face him, and if her eyes had glared daggers but moments before, his were sharp blades ready to slice her to pieces at the slightest protest.

Despite years of past experience though, what he was still constantly tending to forget, was the fact that the fierce Warrior Princess had buried her fear against any living and breathing thing, only few, rare as a pig in flight situations managing to actually stir any kind of panic inside her heart. Plus, Ares's frets and fumes she was so used to that most of the time she didn't even flinch when they occurred.

If he was considered to have a bad temper well... she was kinda ten times worse...They were the perfect match in more ways than one, everyone could see that.

"Get your hands off me Ares! " she commanded, on such a menacing tone that would have made the heart of any enemy stop for a sec, and think twice if it was in fact appropriate to proceed with the original plan or not, no doubt about it...

The God of War on the other hand...well ...he was no pesky mortal that much of the story was true, and from any possible point of view, he was something else.

Holding her gaze in an equally challenging and defying manner, and using the same minatory notes that she had just resorted to, his fingers intentionally began digging

even deeper inside her flesh now pressing hard the area between her acromioclavicular joint and ligaments, aware that the move would inflict enough pain as to make her pay attention to whatever he was going to say to her.

His moves confident and bolt despite the storm hammering inside his chest, his lips softly grazing the surface of her earlobe he simply uttered on the lowest of tones, spicing up every word with a new constriction, doing his best to control his rage and restrain himself from yelling at her, but being at the same time as rough and adamant as he needed to be:

"I will get my hands off you when I feel like doing it ok? In the mean time, you're gonna sit tight like a pretty little girl that you are and we're gonna start talking about whatever has been bothering you, one way or the other..And NO, I'm not asking you, I'm **ordering **you!" he underlined the last part of the phrase as he noticed Xena's patronizing look.

"You're **ordering **me? Have gone round the tiwst Ares, or what's wrong with you? Since when are you in the position of ordering me anything?" " she spat in return, totally outraged by the God's offensive attitude.

"Since the day you pledged your self to me!" he roared in her face, shoving her against a tree with such fury and frustration that she she genuinely though her spine was going to snap into pieces.

To Tartarus with self control and any eccentric ideas of a clear, focused mind...

"You're my Chosen Gods damn it! I don't fucking care if you like it or not, but you will do as you are told!" he went on yelling at her shaking her once more with such force that Xena was unable to suppress a loud moan as she could literally feel his fingers pushing mercilessly inside her shoulders like knifes.

Since it wasn't in her nature to give up easily though, her actions didn't really come as a surprise for the infuriated Olympian.

"Or what?" she challenged repulsed by his macho "I'm a God!" attitude, ineffectively trying to push him away from her, despite the fact that the ripping pain coming from above her shoulder joints was so acute that she could hardly raise her arms.

"I'm warning you Xena, don't push your luck! I assure you, you'd hate the outcome."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Take it as you will. But I'd choose my wording carefully if I were you. Now I suggest you start chattering Princess, before I give in the indescribable urge of tearing your arms apart." he dictated piercing her with his glare, reading the hard to endure agony in her troubled eyes.

"Oh please God of War, don't hurt me! I'll tell you my every little secret" she mocked, an ironic smile on as large as China on her theatrically imploring face, and she knew that for Ares' s XXL ego, that pretty much equaled with the world ending disaster of a bunch of drunken soldiers pissing on one of his sacred altars.

She was getting to him, that was as plain as the rain being wet, but instead of enjoying the partial psychical victory of having the chance to hear his frustrated tone descending one more note as she had silently predicted, along with the distinctly intensifying vibrations in his voice, she literally felt the earth opening underneath her feet as the pungent convulsion of her muscles when his knee collided earnestly with the pit of her stomach left her breathless, making her unvoluntarily collapse to a puddle at his feet, her face chalk white, hands trembling uncontrollably as she placed them inches away from her, searching relentlessly for the solid mass of the ground for support.

Seconds later though, the Gods's iron moved around her neck, chocking her, leaving her crave for air for an almost whole minute before he murmured languidly against her lips:

"I know you will. I'm all ears"

"Well too bad. Cause I wouldn't know what to start with. Should it be the disturbing fact that you could as well have a penis instead of that permanently comatosed brain your skull seams to host most of the time, or...with that fact that you're nothing but a lying, manipulating, totally useless scum that has no other hobby in life but to desperately and deplorably kiss the ground I walk on, inhaling my each and every breath? What do you want to hear me say **My Lord?** That I'm all yours till my dying day? That I love you and that I can't go on living another moment without you tenderly holding me during every freakin' romantic sunset? Get real Ares! I need a real man by my side not a rag doll or a sick puppy!" she finally answered raspingly, aware that this line alone was surely about to slash inside the God's heart trenches as deep as the feared, bottomless abyss of oblivion if what he did say about loving her was still by any chance true.

...As her words began their grotesque dance round and round the God's clouded reason, with his last presence of mind he rapidly unclenched his fingers from the dark haired beauty's neck, pulling his hand back with an almost impressive speed, as if the touch of it could cremate his bone structure along with his skin , actually fearing the possibility that maybe, blinded by that uncontrollable wave of wrath that he had sensed rising inside him while listening to her speak, he could have just choked her to death or break her neck and get it all off his chest.

"Oh! Poor baby! I've hurt your feelings haven't I?" she kept on pushing, drunken by the maddening feeling of that unprecedented mix of tornado feelings and impulses invading their bond, entering her blood with the speed and effect of morphine, intoxicating her mind along with her heart, the cruel desire of hurting him, finding the power of making him squirm about in pain impossible to resist. "Well, don't you worry now" she continued, tauntingly reaching a hand to caress his now impassible face "They said that time heals it all. Screw a few virgins, drink some extra ambrosia, or better yet some good wine... That should make you feel better, I'm sure"

Staring at her somewhat in disbelief, but deliriously feeling like turning her into ashes right where she was standing, the God just pushed her hand away, slapping her face with the back of his hand as hard as he could, and the sound of his knuckles colliding with her right cheek literally made him wanna hit her again, and again and again until every inch of that perfect visage that had kept him awake at nights for years on end would have been covered in bruises.

His fingers clenching angrily into her long dark tresses, he pulled her effortlessly from the ground, his own hands trembling imperceptibly, blood thundering harrowingly

in his ears, his lungs almost on fire, aching to let all the pain out and to finally be able to inhale.

He didn't yell at her though. His expression now inscrutable and cold, he just cupped her chin with his free hand, and staring her in the eyes he replied icily:

"You worthless whore! I would have layed the world at your feet and this is the respect I get ? And...this...this sick nerve that you have in you to actually think for a second that from the whole damned face of the earth you're the only good screw? Well I believe it's my turn to ask you Xena...are you brain damaged? Cause I'm sorry to brake this to you, but there's better sweetheart. And you can take my word for that" he spat seemingly disgusted by the sight of her, throwing her violently back against the nearby tree, like a used rag, a patronizing smile on his face and a smug glare to match his gesture pointing out the demureness of his lines.

"See ya' round sugar, I think I might just take up on your advice, and go have some real fun ...Some hot, wonton, easy to deceive village girls looking for a good fuck might be just what the doctor ordered" he added, his eyes unable to veil once more that primal stirring of killing of getting even the last drop of crimson, passionate blood out of her...he couldn't do it though...As always some nonsensical force that her blue eyes radiated with, made him take a step back, as if having hit an invisible wall.

_**My Darling, I don't ever want you to leave me,**_

_**My Darling, you and me were meant to be together,**_

_**My Darling, and if I cannot have you, no one can cause you're my**_

_**My darling, cause I possess yout soul, your mind, your heart and your body.**_

And before she knew it, in less than a blink, he was gone, the regular special effects he was such a big fan of, announcing his departure.

**XXX**

After the sun rose high in the sky, the hours started passing so very slowly, in some sort of weird slow motion manner, minutes barely having the decency to elapse.

There was no fighting that day, no crazy, suicidal warlords looking for trouble, no special events. It was just her and Gabrielle , alone on the dusty road towards nowhere ...Yesterday they were definitely heading somewhere, and according to the usually talkative bard they were on the right track...her mind was elsewhere though . For all that she cared, they could as well head it to a Roman camp...

"Xena...are you ok?" Gabrielle's low voice finally broke out late in the afternoon.

"Yeah" came the dry reply of an obviously clueless Warrior Princess.

"Do you want to talk about it? Ares? Or at lest about your nightmare? I barely woke you up this morning...What was it about? Who's Lakshmi?"

No answer came though...

"For what is worth...I don't think he really meant it, Xena. Don't get me wrong... I'm not defending him or anything...he shouldn't have said those things...he had no right...but I don't believe he actually wanted to..."

Her voice trailed off, watching her friend's gaze shifting towards the ground. She didn't even ask her what she had heard from the entire fiery exchange in the first place. Didn't say a word...

"I guess...he was just hurt, Xena..."

Till night came, they just walked the next few miles in silence, neither one of them dearing to open any other subject. Gabrielle made some insignificant remarks about the weather and about the broil that was likely to come during the following few days at a certain point, but that was pretty much it.

After setting camp, gathering firewood and securing the premises, the petite bard thoughtfully made those little dumplings with the red stuff inside that her friend loved so much...Xena barely touched them.

Her soul was aching, Gabrielle could tell.

When she sat down next to her and hug her, she didn't even flinch. The usually stoic Warrior Princess had always had something to say about this kind of emotional gestures ...some quizzical comment of some sort never lacking after a similar affectionate display ...and yet, she was miles away now, almost as if she didn't realize that Gabrielle's hand had softly began to caress her own...

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this, Xena? You might feel better..."

No answer came. Minutes later, she just saw her get up from the log, an exhausted expression on her face, eyes in a blur as if a dense fog covered their sky blue surface.

"I'm going for a walk. Don't wait up..."

"Xena..."

"Don't worry. I'm fine" was all that she answered before heading for the thick curtain of trees.

She was far from being far though, Gabrielle could tell.

"Oh Xena. I only wish I could do something to help..."

**XXX**

Without even realizing how exactly she had arrived there, Xena found herself standing on the borders of a small lake. As if under hypnoses, she absently let her amour and weapons fall on the soft flowery grass covering the ground along with her leather shift, and slowly lowered her body into the lukewarm, limpid water whose surface mirrored as if in some traditional fairytale image the round silver disc of the moon.

With the light wind gently playing through her long, silky tresses, the Warrior Princess strangely had the surreal appearance of one Poseidon's stunningly beautiful nymphs, or rather like that of some unknown celestial entity that had magically descended from her divine dwellings into the world of mortals, to enjoy her own possessions and creation.

It wasn't the clearest of nights , and but a few tiny golden stars, carelessly spread here and there, were languidly casting in their turn a faint yellow light on Xena's perfectly sculpted body, tracing around it something that in her discreet greatness, her mortal nature refused to show at all times: her shimmering aura, radiating like diamonds from, the surface of her now bronze skin. But then again, no light was needed to reveal the undescribable beauty of her flawless form. The wind itself while caressing her curves, was enough to praise her unmatched charm.

Sitting motionless in the middle of the lake, only half of her body shielded to some extent by the transparent liquid mantle unfolding at the base of her hips, the Warrior Princess unconsciously wrapped her arms around her breasts allowing her fingers to delicately caress the still aching area of her shoulders, that, despite the poor light obviously revealed round purple marks , there where the War God 's fingers had savagely gripped them the night before.

Two hot, unchecked tears, falling down her cheeks like rain droplets brought the absent Warrior to reality again, as if having returned from a long journey taken in the faraway land of dreams, a loud moan escaping her lips as two more followed , washing her face cleaner than the pure waters of the lake ever could.

Images from her morning dream still circled her mind like vultures, rubbing even more salt into her heart's fresh wounds, just to feel them thrusting their sharp beak inside its bleeding flesh over and over again, and as she helplessly covered her tear soaked visage with both of her palms, trying to vainly calm herself, she dimly discovered that the intense sensation of her entire body being crushed by a lethal force a thousand times bigger than her will was simply overwhelming.

She suddenly felt so weak, so powerless...so...empty.

As she finally allowed herself to burst into a raging flood of countless more bitter tears, unable to stop them anymore from leaving her eyes, right out of nowhere, as light as only the finest silk could be and at the same time as heavy as the displeasing confinement of Roman amour, she instantly felt his godly presence around her bare body, surrounding her like a halo, protective and caring as she had always perceived it.

She didn't move a muscle. He was standing right there in front of her, but just like a stubborn child she refused to let her hands break the safe shelter she had carefully built around her face.

She could sense it all though...that unique warmth beaming from the surface of his skin, the light stirs of the cooling water as he got closer to her, his refined white musk and cinnamon fragrance as her head unavoidably got to rest on his chest, not before he made sure to tenderly kiss the back of her hands as soon as he tightly enfolded her into his arms, his lips descending soon after towards her bruised shoulders, pressing them lightly, like bandages against them, sending shivers down her spine as he started murmuring on the brokest of tones she had heard him use in her life, one that sounded as desperate as her own frantic sobs.

"By all Gods, what are we doing to each other Xe?"

Cautiously, he leant his head against the creamy skin of her hands that she was still defensively using as a mask, rigorously shielding her mesmerizing eyes along with the profound ache they were reflecting, and he could literally feel his heart blowing up into a million little pieces as another small whimper came tumbling off her lips, the instant his fingers started to gently stroke her hair.

"Im so sorry luv. Sweet Olympus I'm so sorry" he barely managed to articulate as his trembling hands finally rested on each side of her temples, unaware of what else he could possibly say to stop her from crying, his own being completely shaken by the last night's conversation they had shared.

"I didn't mean to say any of those things sweetheart, I swear I didn't. You know me luv, I was just hurt and angry. And Lakshmi...never happened...I should have shut the fuck up in the first place I know...it's just..."

As he took one more good look at her violently convulsing body, her chest rising and lowering rhythmically in between sobs, he couldn't help silently cursing his damn temper wondering when was the last time he had actually seen her so affected by something, to the extent that she could no longer control her reactions.

His words must have drilled a bottomless hole right through her heart, that was for sure, since from various past experiences he knew that she was usually a marvelous actress, she could have made a career out of feigning indifference or any other emotion for that matter at any time even if one had skinned her alive, but now, she was just standing there in front of him like a defenseless little girl, without as much addressing him a word, no expletives, no tricky attacks, no nothing, motionless as if her feet had been glued to the bottom of the lake, driving him crazy with her painful silence, watching her heart fall apart before his eyes, unable to undo the devastating effect of his actions.

And she was so beautiful...so incredibly beautiful...like no woman or Goddess he had ever seen in his life.

"Gods, Princess, please stop crying, sweet, it's tearing me apart...Will you please look at me?" he imploringly whispered , caressing the smooth surface of her hands, refusing to force her to do it, the image of those crude black-purple bruises on her shoulders still making him wanna look sideways.

" I love you too much Xe. I love you so damn much, and it just burns like Tartarus sometimes to see you so cold and...not that I hadn't given you all the reason in the world to be mad at me...I know that you must hate me right now and I know that you need time to get over this...just do what you have to do and come back to..."

He didn't dare finish the phrase though as the very high probability of getting a slicing line in return when the "me" part came up for discussion freaked him like nothing else could.

Instead, he reluctantly touched her hands, unsure if he was supposed to do that or not, fearing that one wrong move would have blown his last chance to smithereens.

Encountering no resistance from her part, he slowly kept on lowering her hands with such a sweet suavity that it gave the impression he was holding the fingers of a rare porcelain doll.

When he finally gathered up the courage to look upwards, searching for that familiar set of bright, beryl irides, expecting of course to encounter the steeliest gaze ever to pierce his eyes right till it reached the bottom of his lacerated soul, the first thing he actually noticed , was the unusual glimmer of her tears as they kept brimming along her lashes.

"As pure as diamonds" would have made the perfect description, and it was no surprise when the rate of his heart suddenly fluttered violently, as he once more realized that she had been crying because of him, that he was the cause of her sorrow.

As he rose one hand to wipe her still rolling tears, he automatically stopped in mid air, not daring to touch her soaked visage, using it to cover his own eyes and forehead instead, biting hard into his lower lip, as if having reached the awareness that he didn't had the right to touch her after the previous night's episode.

His head bent down in defeat and, without meeting her hurt gaze again, he just placed a firm, brief, loving kiss on her forehead, taking his time to memorize the sweet perfume of her skin, and, murmuring one last broken "I'm sorry, Princess" against her ear he just turn around and left, as warm salty tears started to fall down his transfigured face too, tracing a fine, shining path towards his lips.

Behind him, still unable to hold back her tears, Xena was literally under the impression that if she had ever wished to die, she had never before desired it as ardently as she was

doing it during that particular moment.

As if possessed by some out of this world, unknown force , the very moment he began disintegrating into thin air, a faint, low murmur escaped her lips, her voice grief stricken and trashed as she herself hadn't heard it in years.

"Ares..."

And just like he had always done when hearing her utter his name, the God stopped dead in his tracks as if struck by the deadliest lightening bolt that Zeus had ever owned, waiting to hear the rest of her command.

Whatever anyone else might have believed, her invocations had never resembled those ridiculous lengthy odes that the other Chosens used to address their Gods. No. She had never asked for his presence. She had ordered him to come.

...As the God himself had put it on countless occasions, that was what set her apart from all the other crazed worshipers he had had the "privilege" to deal with across the ages.

So, it was no surprise that when the notes of her shivering voice reached his ears, he barely remembered how to breathe, and, without saying anything, he just froze there, a few feet away from the border of the lake, not daring to flinch one muscle.

"Don't go..."

Seconds later, she was safely encased in his protective, strong arms, and he was holding her so tight that it hurt. This time though it was a different kind of pain. A pleasant pain. The special type of suffering she had always wanted to melt into, countless times in the past when there was no trace of any burdening memories and regrets between them. And when he finally cupped her chin to have her look at him, wanting to apologize once more for the whole mess, her mouth simply brushed over his, nipping his bottom lip lightly before pressing a sweet, soft kiss in the corner of his mouth, and it's addictive, burning effect, only made the War God's pulse speed perceptibly along with the rhythm of his breathing.

Licking his lips carefully, his fingers delicately caressing the smooth skin of her neckline he simply stood there, inches away from her,watching the changing shadows of the moonlight playing on the surface of her watery blues, consumed with afflicting lust, incommensurable desire and staggering doubts, not knowing what was he in fact supposed to do and if it should have been better to walk away from all that in the first place.

...He loved her too much...

"Ares? What's wrong?" she asked, ethereally dragging her hands throughout his hair, instantly sensing the rush of distress invading his aura, noticing the visible hesitation in his gestures and the obvious guilt in his eyes.

Drawing in a deep breath, and softly tracing the contour of her lips with his thumb, the God felt the crushing need to just close his eyes for a moment, ineffectively attemptingto block that impossibly hard to resist image of his Princess's divinely shaped body naked in his arms, so vulnerable, so arousingly arched against his own...unwillingly tempting him out of his mind...

"I...uh...I don't want to hurt you , Xe..." he whispered , his jaw twitching as he took another good look at her brutally marked shoulders, swallowing hard at the realization of what he could have done to her during those blinding rage moments that had completely overpowered his will, clouding his mind and feeding his forever burning fever for violence and sufferance..

And when she parted her lips ready to give him more than one thousand and one reasons why he couldn't possibly harm her even if he wanted to, he simply silenced her with his hand, already predicting what she was about to say, as if having read her thoughts...

"You don't know that sweet...You saw me..."

Kissing softly the tip of his fingers she responded, affectionately caressing his face:

"Do you really believe that you could ever..." but before she had the chance to finish her line, Ares had already interrupted her again as if afraid to even hear her utter the possibility of such thing actually happening.

With a sudden but tender tug, he pushed her away from him, taking one step back from what he knew to be the biggest temptation of his immortal life.

"Princess, I just don't know anymore...I...you know what I feel for you. And baby, trust me when I tell you that it's not precisely that ordinary fairytale love that you mortals usually dream about, ok? It's like an inextinguishable fire, something as deep as the pits of Tartarus and as consuming and dangerous as the Vesuvius all together..."

"Hey!" Xena exclaimed in a slightly playful manner, trying to lighten up the mood somehow. " Had your faith in me faded so much that you don't think I could handle a little lava? ", allowing a cute girlish smile to brighten up her previously saddened features. "I guess Il just have to be careful not to burn myself, right?"

"How about the ashes, Xena? Cause if the volcano erupts and you magically manage to escape that liquid river of fire, the ashes will choke you to death. What than?" he inquired, pressing both palms against his temples, overwhelmed both by the situation and by that throbbing headache that had never left him ever since she had left his temple the previous night.

"What are you saying?" she incredulously asked, taking her time to study his expression. "Are you giving up on...?". She stopped in mute amazement.

"I don't know what I'm saying, sweetheart. All I know right now is that I want you to be safe...and you're not safe with me...It's like you're driving me crazy...When I'm around you I just can't control myself...It's like you're under my skin and every time I touch you I feel this incredible urge to savagely devour you, to make you part of me. I can't even explain it without sounding like a complete Lunatic. I would protect you with my life and rip you to pieces, all in one."

"To think that I actually believed that I was the only weirdo in Greece. Good to know there's two of us..." she muttered laughing moments after, a forced, tense laugh nonetheless, in an awkward attempt to make him change his mind

"Not funny, Xe...You don't even realize how hard this is for me...As lame and wiped out as I may sound, I can't live withot you damn it, but on the other hand, you might have been right about one thing: we are bad for each other. I am bad for you..."

"I guess I'll just have to take some risks then... If not the day to day routine is going to kill me before you even get the chance to form a lightening bolt..."

"Don't make this even harder... " his voice broke again. "Please..." he barely uttered above a whisper his eyes pleading for her not to go on, barely daring to maintain eye contact.

" I love you...I don't want you to leave..." she whispered in return , hot on his neck, delicately brushing his skin with her lips, her fingers slowly gripping the edges of his leather vest, pulling him slowly even closer to her, and she could instantly feel all muscles in his body tensing under her touch, his arms still refusing to hold her, under the titanic effort of not giving in to her request.

For a moment there, her heart rate doubled as she genuinely feared that he did have the necessary strength to be adamant about it. But as her head tilted to the side, frantically searching for a glimpse of something familiar in his cloudy, confused eyes, what she got in return surprised even herself, as the God waited no longer for her to utter a sound, freely offering her all the confirmation she needed about how convincing she could be when she wanted to, with not to much effort on her part to start with and when he clenched his fingers into her long silk tresses, he literally left her speechless, sedated by the after effect of one of those special kind of kisses that he had in store for her, and her alone. She knew it was score one for the Warrior Princess, just as it has always been.

**_Tender was the kiss when you held me captive in your sweet embrace  
My lips begin to burn and my heart beats faster then the normal pace  
I try hard to resist that familiar smile that melts me just like wax  
But what's the use, I'm yours and that means forever, there's no turning back_  
**

To think about it, it was kinda weird how, each and every time their lips parted, an almost magnetic force instantly drawn them closer and closer until there was nothing left between them , not even air, not even reality. There was just a fading memory of who they were and what they were doing there in the first place...at first there were sparks, and then there were flames...That's how it had always started.

As they were gradually melting in each other's arms, nothing else mattered. She belonged to him, that much of the story was true...and the fact that he was secretly her slave was well known, no point in debating that one...It was more like one of those unwritten lows of the common, tricky destiny they were sharing

"By all Gods, Princess...what is this power you have over me?."...his voice broke as she started nibbling on his ear.

"I guess I'll keep that a secret" she chuckled softly as she heard a low, ever so tempting moan escaping his lips...

_**Baby, baby, baby, it's a mystery  
Ooh, you got me spinning around, what have you done to me  
Suspended animation, I'm lost inside of you  
I feel so insecure and yet I've never felt so sure, what am I gonna do  
**_

"You should learn to share" he joked, directing a brash, furtive glance towards her tender, voluptuous breasts.

A sensual" So teach me" was all the answer he needed to hear, of course.

"Well it kind of goes like this" the God started, his index beginning to trace some pretty arousing circles round and round her extremely erect nipples.

She moaned lowly in return. And there was building frustration and impatience in her tone. She had missed his touch so much...

Ares smiled.

_**Sweeter than the taste of a midnight rendezvous, so sensual  
The look upon your face when you loved me tender and my cup was full  
Oh...softer than the sigh when it all was over and I slumbered deep  
Lost inside of you like there's no tomorrow as I fall to sleep**_

_**I'm out on a limb**_  
_**I'm giving in to you again**_  
_**Baby, baby, I...I'm out on a limb**_  
_**I'm giving in to you again**_

Her patron God harming her in any way...Xena couldn't suppress a bemused smile as his previous lines rushed into her mind the moment her eyes caught his completely defenseless, loving expression.

In a pose that no mortal could have pictured the ferocious Lord of Bloody Battles and Mayhem , he had knelt in front of her, water washing now over the lower part of his chest , no care in the world what so ever regarding the overall macho image he had to protect, as if it had been the most natural thing in the world for him to do, and he was expertly kissing every inch around her belly.

And to top it all, besides the striking obvious, there was something else about him too...that hard to miss elegance that was mirrored in his every gesture, his style, his demeanor...the tremendous amount of energy and class that literally vibrated at his slightest gesture...certainly not the traditional "vicious killer" image he had so much wanted to convince her of...

The sky had began to clear up bit by bit as more stars started to show up, sending a slightly intense light above the silvery lake.

It was going to be a sleepless, mystic night, no doubt about it...One of those ordinary fairytales type of nights that mortals usually dream about all their lives...You can all imagine the rest, I guess, since magic can't really be described...

**XXX**

**(Xena's Dream)**

It was almost complete obscurity all around but still, not impossible to distinguish the foggy image of the tree trunks surrounding her. She was back in the forest and she rapidly discovered that if she focused properly she could even sense the fresh smell of wet moss. It had rained and the damp grass was tickling her bare feet. It was extremely cold though and not at all a comfortable place to be in.

Two seconds later, her awakening brain started making various connections as some pieces of the puzzle didn't seem to fit accordingly.

"_It didn't rain hours ago..."_ the Warrior Princess said to herself while touching the soft blades.

"No it didn't" came a suave but loud enough to make her turn around in a blink, trying to detect the source of the sound.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" she commanded, her piercing gaze still scanning the premises as confusion filled even the last corner of her mind.

"These are the tears you cried. This is your soul..." the voice could be heard again.

"What are you talking about?"

"This forest is the mirror image of your inner world. This is how you feel right now, isn't it? The loneliness, the cold, the disappointment, the lack of hope, the utter insecurity and ripping pain...the desolation...they are all gradually creeping inside you, clouding your mind, chocking you to death..."

"You kow, I do have my own psychologist 24/7 by my side, so I could actually go just fine without your sharp thought reading services, thank you." Xena spitted out with disdain, irritated by the whole situation. She hated not knowing what was going on. She couldn't stand the idea of not being in control.

"I want you to see something, Warrior Princess..."

And before Xena could gather up the right words to impolitely refuse her invisible interlocutor, a large globe of pure white, shining light formed just inches away from her, and as she was silently wondering what in Hades' name was happening, her entire body stiffened at the sight of a masterly selection of images the sphere was showing.

_She had just left the War God's temple when Ares and Lakshmi had materialized in the reception room of the Halls of War, in Sparta._

_Her long dress rustling down the black marble floors, the gorgeous woman headed towards a nearby burgundy leather chesterfield, lazily tilting her head back while contemplating the War God's perfect features. _

_A warm tender smile lightened her face, making her unique eyes shine even more as she noticed Ares' tempted but baffled look.._

"_I'd say we should not waste any more time with useless gibber and get to the point already...I don't have much time. The others are waiting for me. I have a message to deliver, remember?" and she could tell that the mere sound of her voice, flowing smoother than the slowest river, caught the God's attention from the very first syllable._

_Never breaking her gaze, the seductive Goddess reached out a hand for him to grab, courteously offering him a sit by her side._

"_Lakshmi..." Ares started, but he was caught off by the surreal sensation that her lips offered him the moment they demandingly pressed over his own, erasing his any intention to protest faster than a sponge would erase chalk marks on a blackboard._

"_I want you..." she wishpered on a note that resembled staggeringly the notes of an antique harp melody when the distance between them finally widened with a few_

_inches. _"_I feel a special vibe inside me each time I look into your eyes, my blood runs faster our hands touch...it's like...magic. Our ancestors call it karma...Our souls bind perfectly can't you feel it? Don't you feel that you loose a bit of yourself each time you look at me? Those are the invisible links of destiny Ares...We belong together"_

_Gradually exhaling a breath that he had been holding for a while now, the perplexed War God finally found the necessary strength to speak, as his hands found their way out her cascading hair._

"_I don't want you to take this the wrong way , Lakshmi, I mean you are stunning and any man or god for that matter would have to be crazy to take down such an offer, but, you see..."_

_His voice broke off._

"_You love her" she coldly stated taking a step back away from him, a visible shade of humiliation and shame covering her lovely visage. "You're in love with her" she repeated as if trying to process the meaning of those words. " I was so stupid to believe that..."_

"_Sweetheart...you don't have to feel bad about it. It's my fault. Maybe I should have just been more..."_

"_She's gorgeous. And independent. Strong willed" she cut him off._

"_You're gorgeous too." he added._

"_But I'm not her" she bitterly murmured, shifting her gaze away from him towards one of the walls, where to her utter astonishment she recognized the Warrior Princess's life size portrait embellishing the room._

_There was a long awkward silence, neither of them daring to continue to conversation._

"_...Nobody is" he finally voiced taking her hand and delicately planting a soft his on top of it._

"_You're something else" she replied with a smile, watching him in the eyes again..."And true love is hard to find..."_

"_Too bad she disagrees" he bitterly joked, squeezing lightly her fingers._

"What was that all about? Xena demanded to know as the ball of light faded from her hands.

"You should start appreciating what you have Warrior Princess" the mysterious voice responded filling the air again, but somehow further away than it had seamed before. "True love is hard to find..."

"Lakshmi?" Xena questioned in disbelief...

She didn't get the chance to receive her answer though as, louder than one hundred clarions, Gabrielle's voice almost broke her eardrums:

"Come on Xena ! Wake up! Wake up!"

...


End file.
